MOSCOW — The foes make a striking contrast — a bald, stolid general director versus an extravagant dancer with an opulent mane of dark hair.

And the stakes could hardly be higher: control over the storied Bolshoi Theater in a battle that has gone into overdrive since the January acid attack on the artistic director that exposed rivalries reminiscent of the Hollywood movie “Black Swan.”

In a surprising twist, principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze might be gaining the upper hand against general director Anatoly Iksanov. Both are thought to have backing from government officials and Kremlin-connected business tycoons eager to extend their influence over a state theater that has been a symbol of national pride for centuries, and has features on the 100-ruble bill.

Iksanov accuses Tsiskaridze of creating an atmosphere of intrigue that set the scene for the Jan. 17 acid attack on the artistic director. Tsiskaridze rejects the claims and points to the attack as evidence that the theater has descended into crime and violence under Iksanov’s watch.

Tsiskaridze, 39, grabbed a high-profile platform for his case on state-run TV. The exposure came even as he has endorsed the grievances of the Bolshoi dancer accused of staging the attack on artistic director Sergei Filin, and defended the dancer in public.

On Sunday, Tsiskaridze appeared on a live talk show on NTV, a channel the Kremlin has used to attack its opponents or those who have fallen out of favor. Tsiskaridze poured scorn on Iksanov, accusing him of botching the Bolshoi’s reconstruction, ruining its repertoire and treating dancers like slaves.

Asked whether he was ready to take the general director’s job, Tsiskaridze proudly answered, “I am absolutely ready.”

He was joined on the program by a former Bolshoi prima ballerina who alleged Iksanov oversaw a practice of ballerinas being used as high-class prostitutes for members of the Bolshoi board and other influential people.

Iksanov looked tired and tense Tuesday at a news conference called to promote a big ballet festival this spring. He said he would not comment on “the nonsense and dirt” aired on the television show and shrugged off Tsiskaridze’s ambitions.

Infighting has raged at the theater for years, but the two sides dropped all decorum after the Jan. 17 acid attack on Filin.

The barbs began to fly even faster after police arrested Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko on March 5. Facing a Moscow court, Dmitrichenko admitted he had agreed to an offer from a thuggish acquaintance to rough up Filin, but he insisted that the man had used acid on his own initiative.

About 300 dancers and staff, led by Tsiskaridze, signed a letter claiming Dmitrichenko had slandered himself under police pressure. Encouraged by the outpouring of sympathy, Dmitrichenko then passed a note from prison to his ballerina girlfriend saying that he had not ordered the acid attack and had been “forced to accept many things.”

At the time of his arrest, Russian state TV suggested Dmitrichenko had been driven by a desire to avenge his girlfriend, soloist Anzhelina Vorontsova, 21, who felt Filin had unfairly denied her the lead in “Swan Lake.”

As news of the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, unfolded last week, Pia Guerra, a 46-year-old Vancouver-based artist, felt helpless. She couldn’t bring herself to go to sleep, so she began to draw.

Police who find suspected drugs during a traffic stop or an arrest usually pause to perform a simple task: They place some of the material in a vial filled with liquid. If the liquid turns a certain color, it’s supposed to confirm the presence of cocaine, heroin or other narcotics.